This activity works well as an individual student activity or a paired activity in which two students agree on the grade they will give each narrative. Narrative #1 is designed to get a a high score on the rubric, while Narrative #2 is designed to get a low score on the rubric.

The rubric is on a 4-point scale and has the following criteria:
-Opening and Lead
-Opening Details
-First-Person Point of View
-Order of Events
-Transitions
-Sensory Details, Show Don't Tell, and Dialogue
-Word Choice
Thoughts & Feelings
-Meaning/Theme/Lesson Learned
-Spelling & Punctuation
-Grammar & Sentence Structure

This is holistic rubric; therefore, students will average the scare for each personal narrative on a range of 1-4.

This activity is perfect for students to view a strong and weak example of a personal narrative. It also helps them reflect on what each writer did really well and some weaknesses. It's also great to help lead a discussion on the qualities of a personal narrative.